1961 World Sportscar Championship

The 1961 World Sportscar Championship season was the ninth season of FIAWorld Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1961 World Sports Car Championship,[1] which was contested over a five race series [1] that ran from 25 March to 15 August 1961. The title was won by Italian manufacturer Ferrari.[1]

Points were awarded to the top 6 places, in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1, however manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car in each race, with no points awarded to places filled by other cars from the same manufacturer..

Only half points were awarded at the Pescara race as it was staged over a four-hour duration, which was less than the FIA’s minimum requirement of six hours or 1000km.

Only the best 3 results out of the 5 race season counted towards the championship totals of each manufacturer. Discarded points are shown within brackets.

1.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world

2.
Ferrari
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Ferrari N. V. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1939 as Auto Avio Costruzioni, the company built its first car in 1940, however the companys inception as an auto manufacturer is usually recognized in 1947, when the first Ferrari-badged car was completed. Ferrari is the worlds most powerful according to Brand Finance. In May 2012 the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO became the most expensive car in history, Fiat S. p. A. acquired 50 percent of Ferrari in 1969 and expanded its stake to 90 percent in 1988. In October 2014 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced its intentions to separate Ferrari S. p. A. from FCA, through the remaining steps of the separation, FCAs interest in Ferraris business was distributed to shareholders of FCA, with 10 percent continuing to be owned by Piero Ferrari. The spin-off was completed on 3 January 2016, Ferrari road cars are generally seen as a symbol of speed, luxury and wealth. Enzo Ferrari was not initially interested in the idea of producing road cars when he formed Scuderia Ferrari in 1929, Scuderia Ferrari literally means Ferrari Stable and is usually used to mean Team Ferrari. Ferrari bought, prepared and fielded Alfa Romeo racing cars for gentlemen drivers, in September 1939 Enzo Ferrari left Alfa Romeo under the provision that he would not use the Ferrari name in association with races or racing cars for at least four years. A few days later he founded Auto Avio Costruzioni, headquartered in the facilities of the old Scuderia Ferrari, the new company ostensibly produced machine tools and aircraft accessories. In 1940 Ferrari did in fact produce a race car – the Tipo 815 and it was the first Ferrari car and debuted at the 1940 Mille Miglia, but due to World War II it saw little competition. In 1943 the Ferrari factory moved to Maranello, where it has remained ever since, the factory was bombed by the Allies and subsequently rebuilt including a works for road car production. The first Ferrari-badged car was the 1947125 S, powered by a 1.5 L V12 engine, Enzo Ferrari reluctantly built, the Scuderia Ferrari name was resurrected to denote the factory racing cars and distinguish them from those fielded by customer teams. In 1960 the company was restructured as a corporation under the name SEFAC S. p. A. Early in 1969, Fiat took a 50 percent stake in Ferrari, new model investment further up in the Ferrari range also received a boost. In 1988, Enzo Ferrari oversaw the launch of the Ferrari F40, the last new Ferrari to be launched before his death later that year, in 1989 the company was renamed as Ferrari S. p. A. From 2002 to 2004, Ferrari produced the Enzo, their fastest model at the time and it was to be called the F60, continuing on from the F40 and F50, but Ferrari was so pleased with it, they called it the Enzo instead. It was initially offered to loyal and reoccurring customers, each of the 399 made had a tag of $650,000 apiece. On 15 September 2012,964 Ferrari cars (worth over $162 million attended the Ferrari Driving Days event at Silverstone Circuit, on 29 October 2014, the FCA group, resulting from the merger between manufacturers Fiat and Chrysler, announced the split of its luxury brand, Ferrari

3.
Maserati
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Maserati is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna. The companys headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident and it has been owned by the Italian-American car giant Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and FCAs Italian predecessor Fiat S. p. A. since 1993. In May 2014, due to plans and product launches. This caused them to production of the Quattroporte and Ghibli models. Maserati is placing a production output cap at 75,000 vehicles globally, the Maserati brothers, Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, and Ernesto were all involved with automobiles from the beginning of the 20th century. Alfieri, Bindo and Ernesto built 2-litre Grand Prix cars for Diatto, in 1926, Diatto suspended the production of race cars, leading to the creation of the first Maserati and the founding of the Maserati marque. One of the first Maseratis, driven by Alfieri, won the 1926 Targa Florio, Maserati began making race cars with 4,6,8 and 16 cylinders. The trident logo of the Maserati car company is based on the Fountain of Neptune in Bolognas Piazza Maggiore, in 1920, one of the Maserati brothers, artist Mario, used this symbol in the logo at the suggestion of family friend Marquis Diego de Sterlich. Alfieri Maserati died in 1932, but three brothers, Bindo, Ernesto and Ettore, kept the firm going, building cars that won races. The brothers continued in engineering roles with the company, Racing successes continued, even against the giants of German racing, Auto Union and Mercedes. In back-to-back wins in 1939 and 1940, a Maserati 8CTF won the Indianapolis 500, the war then intervened, Maserati abandoned car making to produce components for the Italian war effort. During this time, Maserati worked in fierce competition to construct a V16 town car for Benito Mussolini before Ferry Porsche of Volkswagen built one for Adolf Hitler and this failed, and the plans were scrapped. Once peace was restored, Maserati returned to making cars, the Maserati A6 series did well in the racing scene. Key people joined the Maserati team, alberto Massimino, an old Fiat engineer, with both Alfa Romeo and Ferrari experiences oversaw the design of all racing models for the next ten years. With him joined engineers Giulio Alfieri, Vittorio Bellentani, and Gioacchino Colombo, the focus was on the best engines and chassis to succeed in car racing. These new projects saw the last contributions of the Maserati brothers and this new team at Maserati worked on several projects, the 4CLT, the A6 series, the 8CLT, and, pivotally for the future success of the company, the A6GCS. Other racing projects in the 1950s were the 200S, 300S, 350S, Maserati retired from factory racing participation because of the Guidizzolo tragedy during the 1957 Mille Miglia, though they continued to build cars for privateers. Maserati became more and more focused on building road-going grand tourers, the 1957 Maserati 3500 GT marked a turning point in the marques history, as its first ground-up grand tourer design and first series produced car

4.
Maserati Tipo 61
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The Maserati Tipo 61 is a sports racing car of the early 1960s. The car was produced between 1959 and 1961 by Maserati for racing in sports car events including the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance classic and it used an intricate tubular space frame chassis, containing about 200 chro-moly steel tubes welded together, hence the nickname Birdcage. This method of construction provided a rigid and, at the same time. By recessing the windscreen base into the bodywork, Maserati was able to reduce the effect of new Le Mans rules demanding a tall windscreen. A modern car - the Maserati MC12 is available only in white and blue to serve as a tribute to the Tipo 61, the Tipo 61 was unveiled in 1959 when Stirling Moss won its first race, attracting the attention of Lloyd Lucky Casner. Casner founded the Casner Motor Racing Division who raced three Tipo 61s in the 196024 Hours of Le Mans, the Tipos never won Le Mans due to reliability issues, however in both 1960 and 1961 the Camoradi team won the 1000 km Nürburgring. The Tipo 61 was the most well known model but Giulio Alfieri designed 5 different models and this multi-tubular construction produced a light weight and rigid chassis that was a significant competitive advantage for a racing car. All models included independent front suspension, 4-wheel disc brakes and 5-speed transmission, a De Dion type rear axle was used on the Tipo 60 and 61. Tipo 60 featured a small 2-liter 4-cylinder engine of 200 hp, located in the front, the weight was 570 kg and the car had at a maximum speed of 270 km/h. Tipo 61 featured a 2. 9-liter 4-cylinder engine of 250 hp, the mid-engined Birdcage cars began with the Tipo 63. Maserati now changed to a mid-engine configuration using a similar multi-tubular chassis construction, the rear suspension was changed to an independent double wishbone configuration. The Tipo 63 through 65 cars have been described as a historians nightmare, Maserati was in difficult financial circumstances and Giulio Alfieri was trying to build a competitive car on a low budget. He would retrieve various engines from the Maserati parts bins, then, he had them modified and installed in the ten various chassis that were constructed. The Tipo 63 was raced with four-cylinder and twelve-cylinder engines and the chassis was redesigned when the first version proved less competitive than the Tipo 61. The definitive reference for this complex and confusing era is the book, Maserati Tipo 63,64,65, Tipo 63 first used a 4-cylinder engine similar to the Tipo 61 and later a V12 engine from the Formula One 1957 Maserati 250F. Tipo 64 featured the same 3-liter V12 as the Tipo 63 with an upgraded frame - nicknamed Supercage, Tipo 65 featured a V8 engine of 5 liters delivering about 430 hp pushing the car at 350 km/h. Only one car was using a modified Tipo 63 chassis. The Maserati Birdcage 75th is a car to honor both the Birdcage and the 75th anniversary of Pininfarina

5.
Porsche
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F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche AG, is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans. Porsche AG is headquartered in Stuttgart, and is owned by Volkswagen AG, Porsches current lineup includes the 718 Boxster/Cayman,911, Panamera, Macan and Cayenne. Ferdinand Porsche founded the company called Dr. Ing. h. c, F. Porsche GmbH in 1931, with main offices at Kronenstraße 24 in the centre of Stuttgart. Initially, the company offered motor vehicle development work and consulting, One of the first assignments the new company received was from the German government to design a car for the people, that is a Volkswagen. This resulted in the Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most successful car designs of all time, the Porsche 64 was developed in 1939 using many components from the Beetle. During World War II, Volkswagen production turned to the version of the Volkswagen Beetle, the Kübelwagen,52,000 produced. Porsche produced several designs for heavy tanks during the war, losing out to Henschel & Son in both contracts that ultimately led to the Tiger I and the Tiger II. However, not all work was wasted, as the chassis Porsche designed for the Tiger I was used as the base for the Elefant tank destroyer. Porsche also developed the Maus super-heavy tank in the stages of the war. At the end of World War II in 1945, the Volkswagen factory at KdF-Stadt fell to the British, Ferdinand lost his position as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, and Ivan Hirst, a British Army Major, was put in charge of the factory. On 15 December of that year, Ferdinand was arrested for war crimes, during his 20-month imprisonment, Ferdinand Porsches son, Ferry Porsche, decided to build his own car, because he could not find an existing one that he wanted to buy. He also had to steer the company through some of its most difficult days until his fathers release in August 1947, the first models of what was to become the 356 were built in a small sawmill in Gmünd, Austria. The prototype car was shown to German auto dealers, and when pre-orders reached a set threshold, production was begun by Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH founded by Ferry, many regard the 356 as the first Porsche simply because it was the first model sold by the fledgling company. After the production of 356 was taken over by the fathers Dr. Ing. h. c. In 1952, Porsche constructed a plant across the street from Reutter Karosserie, the main road in front of Werk 1. The 356 was road certified in 1948, Porsches company logo was based on the coat of arms of the Free Peoples State of Württemberg of former Weimar Germany, which had Stuttgart as its capital. The arms of Stuttgart was placed in the middle as an inescutcheon, on 30 January 1951, not long before the creation of Baden-Württemberg, Ferdinand Porsche died from complications following a stroke. The 356, however, had several stages, A, B, and C, while in production

6.
Porsche 718
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The Porsche 718 is a racing car built by Porsche between 1957 and 1962. The 718 was a development of the successful Porsche 550A with improvements being made to the body work, the car is a RennSport build with a wheelbase shorter than typical of predecessors of the era and this led to the car being referred to as the RSK. It had a layout and used the 142 horsepower 1. 5-litre Type 547/3 quad-cam engine introduced in the 550A. The car made its debut at the 195724 Hours of Le Mans driven by Umberto Maglioli. The car failed to finish the race due to an accident, in 1958, the car finished first in class and third overall at Le Mans guided by Jean Behra and Hans Herrmann. Jean Behra also brought one of the home second at the Targa Florio. In 1959, the car, driven by Edgar Barth and Wolfgang Seidel, a 718 also won the European Hill Climb Championship in both 1958 and 1959. In 1961 Masten Gregory and Bob Holbert piloted a 718/4 RS Spyder to a win at Le Mans. Initially a two-seater 1. 5-litre sports car, the 718 was adapted to compete in a number of different formulas, for the 1960 season the FIA made changes to the regulation regarding the windscreen and cockpit size. These rules changes together with a larger Type 547/3 engine, developing 160 horsepower, the RS60 brought Porsche victory at the 196012 Hours of Sebring with a car driven by Hans Herrmann and Olivier Gendebien. 1960 also saw Porsche win the Targa Florio with Hans Herrmann being joined on the podium by Jo Bonnier. The RS60 also ensured that Porsche successfully defended their European Hill Climb Championship for the year in a row. For 1961 the model name was changed to RS61 although it was almost identical to the RS60, an RS61 won the European Hill Climb Championship. A two-litre version, the W-RS was developed in 1961, initially fitted with a 4-cylinder engine, the car was later fitted with an enlarged flat-8 air-cooled engine from the Porsche 804 Formula One car which was developed to produce 240 horsepower. A W-RS finished 8th at Le Mans in 1963, the W-RS continued Porsches success in the European Hill Climb Championship with Edgar Barth claiming the title in 1963. Porsche would go on to win a European Hill Climb Championship every year until 1982, the W-RS continued racing until 1964 when it was replaced by the 904. A Coupé version was developed from the RS61, initially fitted with a 4-cylinder engine, this car was also upgraded to an 8-cylinder F1 derived engine which produced 210 horsepower. The car was fitted with disc brakes

7.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

8.
Targa Florio
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The Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, after 1973, it was a national sports car event until it was discontinued in 1977 due to safety concerns. It has since run as a rallying event, and is part of the Italian Rally Championship. The race was created in 1906 by the wealthy pioneer race driver and automobile enthusiast, Vincenzo Florio, alessandro Cagno won the inaugural 1906 race in nine hours, averaging 30 miles per hour. By the mid-1920s, the Targa Florio had become one of Europes most important races, Grand Prix races were still isolated events, not a series like todays F1. The wins of Mercedes in the 1920s made a big impression in Germany, especially that of German Christian Werner in 1924, rudolf Caracciola repeated a similar upset win at the Mille Miglia a couple of years later. In 1926, Eliska Junkova, one of the female drivers in Grand Prix motor racing history. In 1953, the FIA World Sportscar Championship was introduced, the Targa became part of it in 1955, when Mercedes had to win 1-2 with the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR in order to beat Ferrari for the title. They had missed the first two of the 6 events, Buenos Aires and the 12 Hours of Sebring, where Ferrari, Jaguar, Maserati and Porsche scored. Mercedes appeared at and won in the Mille Miglia, then pulled out of Le Mans as a sign of respect for the victims of the 1955 Le Mans disaster, stirling Moss/Peter Collins and Juan Manuel Fangio/Karl Kling finished minutes ahead of the best Ferrari and secured the title. Several versions of the track were used and it started with a single lap of a 148 km circuit from 1906-1911 and 1931. From 1912 to 1914 a tour around the perimeter of Sicily was used, with a lap of 975 kilometres. The 148 km Grande circuit was shortened twice, the first time to 108 km, the version used from 1919-1930. From 1951-1958, the coastal island tour variant was used for a separate event called the Giro di Sicilia. The start and finish took place at Cerda, the second version of the track also went south through Caltavuturo and took a shortcut starting right before Castellana to Collesano via the town of Polizzi Generosa. There was a circuit called Favorita Park used from 1937-1940. To put that in perspective, most purpose built circuits have between 12 and 18 corners, and the longest purpose built circuit in the world, the 13-mile Nurburgring, has about 180 corners. Like a rally event, the cars were started one by one every 15 seconds for a time trial, as a start from a full grid was not possible on the tight

9.
Palermo
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Palermo is a city of Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence, Palermo is located in the northwest of the island of Sicily, right by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians as Ziz, Palermo then became a possession of Carthage, before becoming part of the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and eventually part of the Byzantine Empire, for over a thousand years. The Greeks named the city Panormus meaning complete port, from 831 to 1072 the city was under Arab rule during the Emirate of Sicily when the city first became a capital. The Arabs shifted the Greek name into Balarme, the root for Palermos present-day name, eventually Sicily would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860. The population of Palermo urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 855,285, in the central area, the city has a population of around 676,000 people. The inhabitants are known as Palermitani or, poetically, panormiti, the languages spoken by its inhabitants are the Italian language, Sicilian language and the Palermitano dialect. Palermo is Sicilys cultural, economic and touristic capital and it is a city rich in history, culture, art, music and food. Palermo is the main Sicilian industrial and commercial center, the industrial sectors include tourism, services, commerce. Palermo currently has an airport, and a significant underground economy. In fact, for cultural, artistic and economic reasons, Palermo was one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean and is now among the top tourist destinations in both Italy and Europe. It is the seat of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Arab-Norman Palermo. The city is going through careful redevelopment, preparing to become one of the major cities of the Euro-Mediterranean area. Roman Catholicism is highly important in Palermitano culture, the Patron Saint of Palermo is Santa Rosalia whose Feast Day is celebrated on 15 July. The area attracts significant numbers of each year and is widely known for its colourful fruit, vegetable and fish markets at the heart of Palermo, known as Vucciria, Ballarò. Palermo lies in a basin, formed by the Papireto, Kemonia, the basin was named the Conca dOro by the Arabs in the 9th century. The city is surrounded by a range which is named after the city itself. These mountains face the Tyrrhenian Sea, Palermo is home to a natural port and offers excellent views to the sea, especially from Monte Pellegrino

10.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed